1779 in music
# 1779 in music

## Events

* February 16 – Composer William Boyce is buried in St Paul's Cathedral. The music at his funeral features the massed choirs of St Paul's itself, Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal.
* March 7 – Griffith Jones, aged about 21, is recommended for membership of the Royal Society of Musicians.
* April – The London Magazine reports on the organ-playing of three-year-old prodigy William Crotch.
* December 26 – Teatro alla Scala in Milan opens its operatic carnival season with Josef Mysliveček's new opera Armida.
* The opera house at Eszterháza burns down.
* Mezzo-soprano Luigia Polzelli and her violinist husband Antonio arrive at the Esterházy court, where she quickly becomes the lover of Joseph Haydn.

## Opera

* Johann Christian Bach – Amadis de Gaule (premiered Dec. 14 in Paris)
* Domenico Cimarosa
   * L'infedeltà fedele
   * L'italiana in Londra (premiered Dec. 28 in Rome)
   * Il matrimonio per raggiro
* Christoph Willibald Gluck – Iphigénie en Tauride (premiered May 18 in Paris)
* André Ernest Modeste Grétry – L'amant jaloux (first published, premiered 1778)
* Joseph Haydn – L'isola disabitata
* Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Zaide
* Giovanni Paisiello – Demetrio, R.1.59
* Antonio Salieri – Il Talismano

## Classical music

* Anna Amalia – Organ Trio in C major
* Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
   * Clavier-Sonaten für Kenner und Liebhaber, Wq.55
   * Rondo in E major, Wq. 57, H.265
   * Rondo in F major, Wq. 57, H.266
* Claude-Bénigne Balbastre – Sonates en Quatuor, Op. 3 (Paris)
* William Billings – Music in Miniature
* William Boyce – 10 Voluntaries for the Organ
* Muzio Clementi
   * 6 Sonatas, Op. 2
   * 3 Piano Duets and 3 Sonatas, Op. 3
* François Joseph Gossec – Symphonie Concertante du Ballet de Mirza, B.90
* Joseph Haydn
   * Symphony No. 70 in D major
   * Symphony No. 71 in B-flat major, Hob.I:71
   * Symphony No. 75 in D Major
   * Aria: "Quando la rosa"
* Michael Haydn – Symphony No.23 in D major, MH 287, P.43
* Johann Adam Hiller – "Lieder und Arien aus Sophiens Reise", compilation including pieces from Mozart.
* Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
   * Kommet her, ihr frechen Sünder, K.146/317b
   * Mass in C major, K.317 (Composed March 23, Premiered April 4 in Salzburg)
   * Symphony No.32 in G major, K.318 (Composed April 26)
   * Symphony No.33 in B-flat major, K.319
   * Serenade in D major, "Posthorn" K.320
   * Vesperae solennes de Dominica in C. K.341
   * Church Sonata in C major, K.329/317a
   * 2 Marches, K.335/320a
   * Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E-flat major, K.364/320d
   * Concerto in E-flat major for Two Pianos, K.365/316a
* Johann Heinrich Rolle – Thirza und ihre Söhne (oratorio)
* Johann Adolph Hasse - Mass in E-flat major
* Joseph Bologne Saint-Georges – 2 Symphonies, Op.11
* Antonio Salieri – Organ Concerto in C major
* William Shrubsole – "Miles's Lane (All Hail The Power of Jesus' Name)", in The Gospel Magazine and Moral Miscellany, Vol.6.
* Maria Carolina Wolf – "Die Rose"
* Carl Friedrich Zelter – Viola Concerto in E-flat major

## Methods and theory writings

* Joseph Amiot – Mémoire sur la musique des Chinois
* Anton Bemitzrieder – Nouvel essai sur l'harmonie
* François Vincent Corbelin – Méthode de Harpe
* Franz Paul Rigler – Anleitung zum Klavier
* Francisco Inácio Solano – Novo tratado de musica metrica, e rythmica
* Francesco Antonio Vallotti – Della scienza teorica e pratica della moderna musica (On the scientific theory and practice of modern music)

## Births

* January 8 – John White, organist and composer
* January 15 – Jean Coralli, ballet producer and choreographer
* February 1 – Nikolaus von Krufft, Austrian composer (died 1818)
* February 2 – Georg Heinrich Lux, organist and composer (died 1861)
* February 5 – François van Campenhout, singer and composer (d. 1848)
* February 17 – Wilhelm Friedrich Riem, composer (died 1857)
* February 22 – Joachim Nicolas Eggert, composer (d. 1813)
* February 23 – Johann Caspar Aiblinger, composer (d. 1867)
* February 28 – Henry Darondeau, composer (died 1865)
* March 1 – Jacob Gottfried Weber, composer (d. 1839)
* March 13 – Oliver Shaw, composer (d. 1848)
* April 11 – Louise Reichardt, German composer (died 1826)
* April 21 – William Knyvett, composer
* May 28 – Thomas Moore, poet and lyricist
* June 23 – Johann Baptist Schiedermayr, composer (died 1840)
* July 20 – Ignaz Schuster, bass and composer (died 1835)
* August 1 – Francis Scott Key, songwriter (died 1843)
* September 8 – Johann Philipp Samuel Schmidt, composer (died 1853)
* September 10 – Louis Alexandre Piccinni, composer
* October 15
   * August Ferdinand Häser, composer (died 1844)
   * Johan Olof Wallin, songwriting bishop
* November 14 – Adam Oehlenschläger poet and lyricist (died 1850)
* date unknown
   * Georges-Joseph-Laurent Lambert, composer (died 1852)

## Deaths

* January 20 – David Garrick, librettist (born 1717)
* February 7 – William Boyce, composer, 69
* February 12 – Hinrich Philip Johnsen, composer (born 1717)
* April 6 – Tommaso Traetta, composer, 52
* April 7 – Martha Ray, singer, 32/33 (murdered)
* June 6 – Joseph Inchbald, actor and singer, 44
* November 27 – Josse Boutmy, organist and harpsichordist, 82
* December 5 – Hermann Anton Gelinek, organist and violinist, 70
* December 28 – Gennaro Manna, composer, 64
* December - Richard Morris, collector of folk songs, 76
* unknown date – Edward Jones, Welsh composer, 49/50
